NOT JUST A HYANNIS PROBLEM – A March 28 home invasion in the Sea Street neighborhood in Hyannis prompted a community meeting with Police Chief Paul MacDonald April 16. Showing solidarity with Hyannis Town Councilor Jen Cullum, who organized the session, were six council colleagues, one each from the rest of the villages. Front row, right to left: President Jessica Rapp Grassetti of Cotuit, Phil Wallace of West Barnstable and Vice President Ann Canedy of Barnstable Village; back row, right to left, Sara Cushing of Marstons Mills, Jim Crocker of Osterville and Fred Chirigotis of Centerville.

Town responds to home invasion

Chief Paul MacDonald made it clear: three victims of a brutal home invasion on a road off Sea Street in Hyannis March 28 experienced a random act of violence that could have happened anywhere.

The last such incident in his memory, he said, happened in the 1980s in Cotuit – and the perpetrator served 45 years.

Three men, picked up shortly after the incident, are being held pending indictment. They’re suspected of participating in a street assault and attempted rape and breaking into several cars in the same time period.

MacDonald spoke April 16 at a meeting called by Town Councilor Jen Cullum to show support for the victims, who were among the 50 people in the police department meeting room. Her further purpose was to underscore that “this is a town issue, not a Sea Street issue.”

Cullum was gladdened by the presence of six council colleagues, one each from the rest of Barnstable’s villages: President Jessica Rapp Grassetti of Cotuit, Vice President Ann Canedy of Barnstable village, Phil Wallace of West Barnstable, Sara Cushing of Marstons Mills, Jim Crocker of Osterville, and Fred Chirigotis of Centerville.

Citing the “good things” that are coming for Sea Street, including a makeover of the streetscape, Cullum said, “I’ve been fighting for this [area] for eight years,” she said, “I know other have fought longer. We cannot let this one awful event derail us.”

Several speakers sought assurances that the justice system would not be lenient with the suspects.

Balcom stressed the random quality of this home invasion, noting that the vast majority involve disputes over drugs. That was not the case here.

MacDonald praised the victims of the March 28 attack, saying they were unlike others who have not come forward “even when shot point-blank.”

The chief said the department ‘has not had the problems on Sea Street we have had in previous years. It’s unfortunate this happened here; it could have happened anywhere. Who does a home invasion in their own backyard?” (The suspects are from the area).

Cullum stressed that residents should be the “eyes and ears” of the police and call in suspicious activity. “I recommend that you do not engage,” she said. “The more police presence we have based on people calling, the less problems with scumbags in our yard.”

A resident said she and her neighbors read the crime report in the daily newspaper and call off-Cape landlords to alert them when a renter is arrested.

“Do you have any advice for protecting ourselves?” someone asked.

“That’s the one question I was hoping no one would ask,” MacDonald admitted. “You can lock your doors, have an alarm system, have the lights on, and people still choose to break in. Be aware of your surroundings, and call us right away.”

Town Manager Tom Lynch and state Rep. Brian Mannal were also in the room.

Lynch admitted his “bewilderment” when he heard about the attack. Why did they do it? “Because they could. They felt powerful, and that they could exercise power over individuals in this room tonight.

“Now,” he said, pausing, “that power has shifted, and we have the power, as the council president said, to prosecute them to the full extent of the law.”

“I don’t think there’s any reason for you not to feel safe,” MacDonald told a questioner. He noted the town’s number of serious crimes such as murder, rape and robbery is the lowest it’s been in a number of years. “Ninety-five percent of the problems you have in the community is drugs,” he said. “Get rid of the drugs, and you’ll have no crime problem in Barnstable.”

One resident offered this advice:

“You have to take care of your own community, take care of your family and your neighborhood. You have to speak out, to put what you consider important on the line. In our neighborhood, we really watch out for each other. You really just have to put yourself out there and care about each other.”